Sfdebris.net

this is one of those episodes that i have only a few vague memories of actually watching, but i've always loved the concepts behind it; both that of the Tin Man itself, and of the telepath who can't control his powers, and so befriends the only person who's mind he can't read.

This kind of reminds me of the Great Machine episode of "Babylon 5".
I think there are a lot of episodes of science fiction about people getting plugged into a giant thing.

This is an episode that always seemed to work better on paper than in execution. The big problem is Tam Elbrin-he's so insufferable that I can't really root for him, but he's also the only character who is really driving events in this episode. Almost nothing relevant to the main cast actually plays a role in events. The only thing that really works is having Tam interact with Data.

Other than that, you have his relationship with Troi, which had almost no impact and didn't pay off the plot. There was the animosity of Riker, which didn't shape events and had almost no payoff. Picard got mad at him, but ultimately he still let Tam make most of the important decisions. The only time they didn't do exactly what Tam wanted all episode was when they let the Romulans reach Tin Man first, and THAT was only because the Romulans shot up the Enterprise and fried the warp drive.

I am shocked at this score. I hated this episode, and every time I watch it I hate it more. I forget it's season 3 because its just so early season 1 in style. I'm shocked this got anything over a 2 tbh.

I liked this episode better when it was called Farscape. Living ship, a sapient symbiotic pilot, jumping away from danger at the last minute... Its all kinda there. I wonder if this episode was any influence on Farscape?

CrypticMirror wrote:I liked this episode better when it was called Farscape. Living ship, a sapient symbiotic pilot, jumping away from danger at the last minute... Its all kinda there. I wonder if this episode was any influence on Farscape?

Farscape. Another instance of someone being plugged into another bigger thing.

CrypticMirror wrote:I liked this episode better when it was called Farscape. Living ship, a sapient symbiotic pilot, jumping away from danger at the last minute... Its all kinda there. I wonder if this episode was any influence on Farscape?

if Tam Elbrun had 1/10th the charisma of John Crichton this could have been a great episode. Instead he's an annoyance we have to tolerate until we can kick him off.

Perhaps the writers were afraid if they made him too likable, the audience might feel like the ending was a downer. "Oh no, that man decided to leave behind all his friends and family, everyone he ever loved, to have a solitary existence with an alien ship." But they perhaps went too far in the other direction where my reaction was "Finally! We found a place for his sorry ass far away where he won't ever trouble the Federation again. Good riddance!"

I think I enjoy this episode more than most thanks to Groener's performance but the core of story's problem is trying to split the difference between an interesting organic lifeform ship plot and the character study of Elbrun; ultimately falling short with doing either any real justice.

I just enjoyed the courtroom bit. I thought we were going to get into Nicotine Nemo territory for a moment there!